Hands-on learning at Expedition Colorado a hit with local 4th graders

LOVELAND — Students saw a golden eagle and Swainson’s hawk up close at one station, sifted through rocks and pebbles of different sizes while learning how concrete is made, looked at fungus through a microscope and were taught about the games kids their age played 150 years ago.

Those were just a few of the learning opportunities fourth graders from 31 elementary schools in the Poudre and Thompson school districts were able to participate in Wednesday and Thursday at Expedition Colorado at The Ranch Events Complex.

The event, held annually since 2019, is put on by the Larimer Conservation District and designed to give students hands-on opportunities to learn about Colorado’s agriculture, natural resources, wildlife and history. The program was expanded this year to add schools from the Thompson School District as part of the conservation district’s own expansion from Fort Collins to all of Larimer County, said Sarah Turner, the organization’s education program specialist.

Classes rotated through four stations for about 20 minutes apiece on five different circuits inside the FNBO Building and McKee 4-H Youth and Community Building.

At a station run by the Colorado State University Bug Zoo, students paired off in groups of two, with one student trying to push tiny beads through the straw of a water bottle while the other tried to flush them back out by squeezing the bottle. The idea, they were told by Maia Holmes, an outreach coordinator for CSU’s Agricultural Biology program, was to show the students how much more difficult it was for a mountain pine beetle to infest a healthy tree receiving plenty of water than a drought-stricken tree.

Another station, run by the Rocky Mountain Flycasters Chapter of Trout Unlimited, had the kids pick up garbage in a fake stream before becoming inhabitants of the stream and learning how they all interact with one another in a game called, “Who Eats Who in the Stream.”

“We give them the basics and encourage them to get their parents involved, get more involved with water conservation and through that is teaching them why and making it fun,” said chapter president Dave Haeusler, who led the program.

He’ll be involved in similar events for fourth and fifth graders next week in Greeley and Fort Lupton.

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Jessica Miller with the Rocky Mountain Raptor program showed off a golden eagle and Swainson’s hawk perched just a few feet away that she and other volunteers had brought with them while discussing how the birds struggle and survive in the wild.

LeeAnn Bee shared stories about the early German farmers who came to the area from along the Volga River in Russia, bringing sugar beet seeds with them. She showed them old farming tools, sugar beet seeds and an oversized stuffed replica of a sugar beet that they passed around.

Sabrina Borg, the 2023 Larimer County Fair and PRCA Rodeo queen, discussed ranching, rodeo and livestock at a station where horse saddles and other ranching equipment were on display.

“I see it as a great hands-on opportunity of learning,” said Kim Smith, a fourth grade teacher from Eyestone Elementary in Wellington, as students in her class took turns sifting through sealed bags of different soils and looking at fungus through a microscope at a station run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Resource Services.

“They’re learning about their state, which aligns with our social studies of Colorado. I think every station we’ve been to so far, they’ve been super engaged and love learning about the things around them.”

Students from CSU’s CAMs Ag Academy spoke to students about local agricultural products while teaching them how to make a peach pie, from the field to the kitchen.

“Getting to see how they see it, from start to finish, and actually understand how ag works in their world has been my favorite part,” said Bekka Sonn-Stefen, who practiced her presentation at home with her third grade daughter and her friends. “It’s always fun to see it on them and see the different things that they learn from this. When they go home, they’ll go to the grocery store and see the ingredients and be like, ‘I learned about this.’ ”

Two stations on different circuits run by the Colorado Stone, Sand and Gravel Association offered lessons on the different rocks and minerals found locally and how they are used to build roads, bridges and buildings.

The Northern Colorado Wildlife Center, Poudre Wilderness Volunteers, Gardens on Spring Creek, CSU Environmental Learning Center, History Colorado, Project Learning Tree and Bird Conservancy of the Rockies also ran stations.

“I liked how much information we got; it was super fun,” said Dax Holcombe, a fourth grader at Bennett Elementary in Fort Collins. “I really liked how interactive it was.”

His mom, he said, is a beekeeper, which probably explains why his favorite station was one run by the Northern Colorado Beekeepers where students tried on beekeeping gear and saw pictures of a demonstration hive.

Another Bennett fourth grader, Magnus Wilson, said he liked learning about the games pioneer and Native American children played on the prairie, teaching them life and survival skills in the process. The city of Fort Collins Natural Areas ran that station.

“I thought it was all really interesting,” Wilson said. “I feel like how hands-on it was, was really cool. It gave kids a chance to learn, but in a really interesting way.”

Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, twitter.com/KellyLyell or facebook.com/KellyLyell.news. 

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Hands-on learning at Expedition Colorado a hit with local 4th graders